Mike Kennedy re-elected to Congress

MANTI—The so-called “blue wave” nationwide did not penetrate Sanpete County, or for that matter, Central Utah as a whole, in Tuesday’s general election.

At the top of the ticket was the race for U.S. Congress in the newly reapportioned 4th Congressional District, which includes parts of Salt Lake and Utah counties, and all of Tooele, Juab, Millard, Sanpete and Sevier counties.

As of about 10 a.m. Wednesday, and based on unofficial returns, Jonny Larsen of Salt Lake County, who ran an exceptionally vigorous campaign for a Democrat, had 69,735 votes, or 41.6 percent. That’s above average for a Democrat in Utah. But Mike Kennedy of Utah County, who was seeking his second term, had 87,002 or 51.9 percent.

The rural counties in the district stuck to their Republican roots. In Sanpete, Kennedy had 4,323, or 75.5 percent while Larsen had 1,066, which translated to 18.6 percent.

Republicans dug in their heels even more solidly in Juab, where Kennedy had 78 percent of votes counted so far; in Millard, where he had just under 80 percent; and in Sevier, where he had 81 percent.

If other counties in the district are like Sanpete and are still counting ballots, those totals could change, but not enough to change the outcome.

Sanpete County has 15,532 registered voters. As of about 10 a.m. Wednesday, the Sanpete County Clerk’s office had counted 5,842 ballots, but still had about 1,800 left to count, according to Heather Pyper, chief elections clerk.

Based on the ballots counted, plus the estimated 1,800 outstanding, voter turnout was about 49 percent, significantly higher than average for an off-year election.

Sanpete County’s propensity to vote Republican in congressional elections has been fairly consistent over the past 10 elections. In seven of those elections, the Democratic candidate has received 20 percent of the votes or less.

All of the exceptions involved atypical circumstances. In 2012, incumbent Jim Matheson got 31 percent when faced Mia Love, who was running for her first term.

In 2014, Doug Owens, son of former congressman Wayne Owens, got 26 percent in a contest with Love. And in 2018, Ben McAdams got 23 percent. That was the year he defeated Love in the district as a whole and won a term in Congress.

Kennedy was a practicing physician in Utah County for more than 20 years. Later, he went to law school at BYU and became a licensed attorney. He also served in the Utah Legislature for 10 years.

In Congress, he has voted for nearly all of President Donald Trump’s initiatives, including the “Big Beautiful Bill.” He told the Salt Lake Tribune that Trump is “restoring order and protecting our citizens.”

Larsen served in the U.S. Marines from 2000 to 2004. After being discharged, he received a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Utah. Since then he has worked in IT security for a company called Cosmos Ecosystem.